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New Oeleani, I^f ^.,1^7i^i878 

To the Republicans and all fair minded 
men of the GowUry: - . ^ ^ 

The peculiar position in which I have 
been j>hiceu by The enemies of the Repub- 
lican party, and the inveterate traitors to 
the Union in this State of Louisiana must 
be pleaded as my excuse for addressing 
you. As the vilest calumnies, unsupport- 
ed by a particle o( sufficient evidence, have 
bet'Ti scattered broadcast over the whole 
country, I deem it a duty to myself, my 
late associates, and to the great party to 
which 1 belong, to send after these cal- 
umnies such an antidote, as a few facts in 
the personal history of the chief conspira- 
tors and their tools can supply. When it 
is'known that 

FIVE SUCCESSIVE GRAND JURIES 
have tiimly and positively refused to find 
a true bill > gainst me, at the high behest 
of the Attorney-General; and the prosecu- 
tion against mo and my associates is bas- 
ed Tipon "information," some public in- 
terest will attach to the personal charac- 
ter of the informers. The central figure in 
this conspiracy is that most supple tool of 
the traitors of Louisiana — 

JUDGE WILLIAM R. WHITAKER. 

e He conspired to defraud the Government 

of the United States of six hundred thou- 



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sand ($600,000) dollars with which hn v^a.s 
entrusted as Assistaut Treasurer, succeed- 
ed in the conspiracy and btauds indicted 
for the felony. 

On the 17th day of April, 1877 a nolle 
j[>7'osequie was entered iu the case. Tbe 
celebrated declaration of the Nicholls gov 
ernment was made about the san e time, 
the declaration that it was the purpose of 
that government to allay anxiety and 
discountenance all attempts from whatev- 
er source,to prosecute persons for political 
offenses. Judge Whitaker has conducto'l 
himself in the late trial of General Ander- 
son, as though he had undertaken a con- 
tract with the Democratic; party to do 
their dirty work, and recti ve as his re- 
ward full rehabilitation into their societj^ | 
He stated to several persons, and to law- 
yers of high standing before the trial of 
Anderson, that tbe Jury was packed lor tbe 
purpose of his conviction. He stated fur- 
ther that no motion having for its objec^ 
the removal of the cause from his jurisdicjp I 
tion, would have his sanction. That all 
motions for that object would be overru-^, 
led. Judge Whitaker was elevated frooiM I 
the Criminal Dock, to do the dirty work 
of the party that is now controlling him, 

NINE OF THE JURORS 
in the Anderson trial swore thatthey were 
prejudiced against the prisoner, yet they 
were forced to serve. Two of them had 
declared. openly that Anderson ought tj^l 



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be huug. Biiriug the greater part of the 
tiial Julge Whitgktjr was in a beastly 
state of iutoxicatiou. 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OGDEN 

is an elder in the Presbyterian church. He, 
too, was aware of the fact tuat the jury 
was packed, and aided and assisted in the 
nefiii ious scheme by which the packing 
was accomplished. He said he intended to 
force the trial because he had ii is jury pre- 
pared for conviction — that he kept Lit- 
tlefieM oncealed in his room, to prevent 
hia testimony being taken on Anderson's 
trial. This Attorney General is wholly 
unreliable as a sworn officer He has spec- 
ulated upi'U ih- collection of taxes. He 
attempted to force the Grand Jury last 
summer to find bills of indictment against 
the Returning Board. Appeared before 
the Grand Jury and insulted witnesses, 
and threatened them with incarceration 
if they refused to swear exactly what he 
desired. Failing to procure such evidence 
from ttie witnesses as he wanted, he ac- 
companied the Judge before the Grand 
Jury, and had him (the Judge) to repri- 
mand the witnesses and threaten them 
with incarceration, if they did not give 
such testimony as required by him. The 
Judge attempted to force the Grand 
Jury to find a true bill to satisfy the wants 
and wishes of the Attorney General 
against the Returning Board, but finding 
all their extraordinary efforts futile, they 



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were compelled to fall back u] on tbe al- 
ternative mode of 'Mnformatlon." 

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL 

EGAN 
is a worthy and pliant tool in the 1 ands of 
the Attorney General. He 8tan<ls indict- 
ed for murder in his own purish, having 
assassinated a broiher lawyer on account j 
of his success in practice over him. 
Mr. CHARLES CAVANAf, 

the important and reliable witness of this 
trio of villains, Whitaker, Ogden andE^an, 
is a man of bad reputation for veracity, 
especially when a political or personal in- 
terest is involved. Hundreds of men in 
this city would not believe him under 
oath. He holds a prominent position in 
the City Government although he has de- 
nounced the female teachers of the public 
schools as prostitutes! 

WILLIAM R. SMART, 
the custodian of the Vernon records, 
would omit no *'lie" that he could utter 
that would be likely to convict me. Dur- 
ing the rebellion he stole my stock, killed 
my hogs, and poultry, and put the vote to 
his company if they should kill me, and 
burn my dwelling over the heads of my 

family. 

A. E. BURK, 

another prominent witness, absconded 

from the little town of Xenia, Clay county, 

in the State of Illinois, and changed his 

name from 



A. E. hURK to E. A, BURKE. 
Debts have f llowed him her^ for liquida- 
tioD over the signature of A. E. Burk, and 
some of them have been paid by him 
thus affirming the fact of his absconding 
and chariging bis name. 

The names of the jurors that were im- 
parmelled for the trial of Anderson and 
myself were furnished by the Democratic 
Committee. Their political status, as wf 11 
as their views, as to the proper punish- 
ment was canvassed by the Judge, At- 
torney Heneral and Democratic Commit- 
tee before being placed on the panel. 

0"e of the jury commissioners testified 
before the Court, that the list of jurors 
placed in the jury box from which tales- 
men were drawn, after exhausting the pa- 
nel, was furnished by 

THE DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COM- 
MITTEE, 

and this fact was known to "Deacon" Og- 

den, the ' assas'^in" Eagan, ani the *''petti- 

toRger," Finney. 

The re urna f om Vernon parish were 
made up in the town of Alexandria, in the 
parish of Rapides fully eighty (80) miles 
from where the electir»n was held. And 
yet the Returning Board are charged with 
and made responsible for all the changes 
which it is alleged have been made in 
these returns since the votes were counted 
by the Commissioners of election, 3 7ery 
one of whom was a Democrat. 

The Judge, Attorney General, the As- 



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sistant Attorney General and the District 
Attorney, have thrown every obst-itcle in 
the way, and used every exertion to pri - 
vent us from producing, or haviuj^ our 
witnesses, by urginor a speedy trial, and 
have denied every legal light ciaime'd by 
our attorneys. 

R. L. GIBSON 
has seen fit on the floor of Congress to 
calumniate the Returning Board and has 
attempted a justification of their persecu- 
tions. This colored Democratic Repre- 
sentative seems to claim a right to assail 
the white race becnuse he feels boastingly 
proud of the commingling of the African 
with the Cauca'sian blood in his veins. 
"When I was acting f treman of the United 
States Grand Jury, in 1874, this colored 
representative of Louisiana, iu thb Con- 
gress of the "STation, was presented to the 
Grau'lJury, for ''violation of election law, 
fraudulently filling the boxes with tickets, 
that were never ballotted" and would 
have been indicted by the Jury, and 
probaby sent to the penitentiary, but for 
my leniency and forbearance. The evi- 
d<^nce of his guilt, taken before the jury, 
is yet iu the hands of one of its members. 
The lineage of this Representative without 
a nationality, can be fully established by 
many of the old inhabitants of Adams 
County, Mississippi, as well as by many 
of his neighbors in the parish ot Terre- 
bonne, Louisiana. 
These are samples of the T)rincina1 tnolc; 



cm fiction of the members of the Keturn- 
ing board in the case improperly called 
tue "State of Louisiana vs. J. Madison 
Weils at. al.,'' but leally and truly is, and 
should be called, the case of 
SAMUEL J. TILDEN VS. RUTHERFORD 
B. HAYES. 

It is a contest for the office of President 
of the United States and the putronaj^e of 
the Executive D'^partmeuts cf the Feder- 
al Governmement. 

It is chiefly managed by David Dudley 
Field, with the advice and pecuniary as- 
sistance of the National Democratic Com- 
raittee. 

A vsrdiet of a packed jury of TiOuisiana 
Democrats, procuied iu the manner above 
pointed out, will, it in expected be ac- 
cepted by the people of the United States 
as a.Tuciicitii settlement of Mr. Tilden's 
title to the Presideuoy. It is a bold and 
despera e game for a great stake. Myself 
and colleagues on the Returning Board are 
merely the outposts or picket guard which 
they hope to oapture, and then they will 
s rprise the garrison if possible, and 
claim the patronage of the. government as 

THE SPOILS OF WAR. 
In corroboration of this view, I refer you 
to the movements all along the line of the 
enemies camp. To the well grounded re- 
ports that a large sum of money has been 
sent here from New York, to be used in 
the trial; to the fact that the National 
Democratic Committee has been hastily 
called together, though no national elec- 
tion is pending. To the fact that several 

nf thPi rtffir»Ara nf f.hA nnnrt innln/linor thp. 



ant Attorney-General, and ShuifJ, the 
principal witnesees, pevera' of the jurors 
and many of the aiders rnd abettors of 
the proceedings, are stained with crimes 
of one sort or another, includinjr treayou, 
murder, larceny, perjury, suboruati n of 
perjury, libel, attem])tiiig to defraud V( - 
ters at the polls, and other seriuns oftensed 
Few t.uga>;ed in the p osecution have 
clean hands', and yet the Deraocraiie 
National Committee, inspired by tlie Me- 
phistophiliau 

DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, 

hope by the employment of such tools in 
place, and in a ca8«, wheie the other side 
has no possible chance of a fair trial, or 
scarcely any to be heard, to make up such 
a case, as shall enable them to wrench th»- 
sceptre from the handsof Pres dent Have>!, 
and give it to the henchman of the dem- 
ocracy. 

The eyes of the leaders ef the Rebellion 
are already fixed upon the high places of 
the Government, which they ftel assure*! 
are as good as in their possession alieady, 
as nothing stands in the way, bai 

WELLS AND ANDERSON, 

whose conviction they have contract d for 
and the contractor^} ar*^ burying on the 
work 

This is a National, not. a personal ques- 
tion It is a renewal, in insiduous ^uise, 
of the tremendous conflict of 1876, per- 
haps of 1861. 

It becomes theRebublicaus of the North 
to be on their guard and give our Louisi- 
ana hirelings to understand, that it is time 
for them to be quiet, or be prepared for 
open, determined, and unrelenting war. 

J. MADISON ^ELLS. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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